Papine High offers security for residents fearing Beryl’s assault

St Andrew labourer Winston Roper was one of several residents in Gordon Town, St Andrew, who heeded the warning about Hurricane Beryl and rushed to seek refuge at the emergency shelters.

However, by midday yesterday, having seen no obvious sign of the hurricane’s passage, the 48-year-old resident expressed mixed feelings about his decision to leave home.

“Mi feel like mi never did haffi leave mi yard,” he said as he sat on a cot inside Papine High School.

Asked why he went to the shelter, Roper said: “A zinc roof and board structure, it caa tek the breeze, not even a category one and mi naa wait till tree limb start pop dung and trap mi and mi caa come out and drop dung pon mi house.”

Having experienced this before, Roper said hence the reason why he always tries to come to the shelter before the hurricane begins.

But he said now that he was there, he was feeling uncertain about the promised effects of the hurricane.

“It a play hide and seek, a play touch and go, touch and go, mi nuh sure wa a gwaan. Mi nuh get nuh breeze and from mi hear say it a come from last night into this morning and hurricane come with heavy breeze, no dem likkle bit a water ya,” he said.

But despite feeling like he could have stayed home, Roper agreed that he still had to continue to watch what the hurricane will do.

Roper was among six persons, including two young children, who were seen at the emergency shelter in St Andrew when The Gleaner visited the area yesterday.

Most of the shelterees expressed similar fears about their homes being unable to withstand the impact of the hurricane.

Plumber Paul Mahoney, 65, also from Landlease, said, “Mi live in a board house and whole heap a big tree round me, and mi feel like right now fi stay in deh and mek tree drop dung pon mi better mi come a school come shelter miself as mi safer.”

Asked what had convinced him to take the warning serious, he said, “If so much people a say dis and say dat you have to make sure say you tek it serious and that you affi survive, that’s why mi naa stay inna house fi nuh tree drop dung pon mi.”

Another shelteree, Peter Douglas, who woke up just in time to speak with the Gleaner team, also shared that he too came because he was afraid of his house “tumbling down on him”.

“Mi tek it serious, no wa take no chance cause my place no suh trang,” he said.

The lone woman, who was present at the time, Simone Nelson, a janitor at the school, also sought shelter with her two young daughters.

She explained that she has never experienced a hurricane before in the community of Shervinton as she is new to the area and did not want to chance it.

Meanwhile, Herbert Williams, of Gordon Town Road, said although he lives in a three-bedroom concrete structure he did not want to ride out the storm there. He said he was uncertain about the ability of a house which is above his to withstand the storm, and fears that the house might crash down on his home.

In the meantime, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management reported that 488 people were in shelters across the island amid the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Of that number, 109 persons were being sheltered at Old Harbour High School in St Catherine.

Chief Public Health Inspector Grayson Hutchinson, who was spotted with a team from the health ministry at Papine High, said the team was out inspecting as many shelters as they could to ensure that there was no overcrowding in the shelters and that the conditions are acceptable.

“We really should have running water, an area to facilitate the preparation of meals and they really should ensure that there is no significant form of pest infestation,” he said.

Noting that there is an increase in the number of respiratory infections, he warned persons to ensure that they rinse their hands regularly while in the shelters and use their masks.

The outer bands of Hurricane Beryl were projected to reach Jamaica before daybreak on Wednesday, beginning with sections of eastern and north-central parishes. However, the Met Service in the last bulletin said that the hurricane was inching closer to the southern coastline with dangerous effect, including dangerously high water and or high waves, with winds of at least 11km/h.